


Unlimited and Absolute

by w3djyt



Category: Kamen Rider OOO
Genre: Excessive Drinking, Unfortunate Implications
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-06-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 02:08:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,577
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1801495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/w3djyt/pseuds/w3djyt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You can take the Greeed out of the human, but the bird is forever... or something.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Unlimited and Absolute

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Galiko](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galiko/gifts), [daphnerunning](https://archiveofourown.org/users/daphnerunning/gifts).



It started with a dead mouse.   
  
As far as the rest of the department was concerned, that really should have been the weirdest part. The most confusing part, at least, was that neither of them really said or did much of anything otherwise to prove there was any real malice involved. It wasn’t exactly new and original for someone on the force to tease a new guy, but Izumi Shingo was not exactly what anyone would call “new.” Not by a long shot. Then again, neither was Gotou Shintarou, even if he’d only recently returned.   
  
Of course, there was not necessarily anything linking the two, nor any evidence left to imply Gotou had been the one to leave the dead mouse on Shingo’s desk. At least, not until the detective had promptly launched it at Gotou’s head. It landed somewhere else entirely, causing the officer it actually hit to leap from his chair in a frantic attempt to brush the dead thing to the floor without actually touching it. But Gotou had needed to lean back slightly to avoid being hit, or maybe he’d just done it so fewer people would see him smirk about it. He did have a reputation, after all.  
  
Then again, it hadn’t exactly started with the dead mouse: that was just when everyone else began to pay attention.   
  
Gotou Shintarou, at least, had been the subject of rumors for quite some time. The topic of his preferences and the fact that he had never done anything to dissuade the chatter or assumptions meant none of it ever really went away. Also, he may or may not have slept with his superiors depending on you asked. The fact that he was apparently now in the middle of a desk war with one of their better detectives who didn’t even have offices on the same floor, however, was just… weird.  
  
Izumi Shingo was not a man that generally spawned this sort of reaction from people. In fact, he never really spawned any reaction at all. The most anyone knew about him was that he was a hardworking, dependable guy. If anyone had anything else to say, it was usually to comment on how good it was of him to look after his sister as he did. More recently, there had been some concern over the length of his medical leave, but then things had gotten pretty strange all around, so it wasn’t really until he had returned some time later that anyone actually realized how long he had been gone.   
  
The fact that he returned with a slightly less stuck up Gotou Shintarou was worth a curious glance and a shrug at most.   
  
At least until the dead mouse.   
  
It probably would have ended there, all things considered, if he actually didn’t like the newly returned captain. He had the higher rank, had been in the force for longer, and if push came to shove, most people would probably prefer him to Gotou. Instead, Shingo made sure to stop by the captain’s desk in the middle of the next work day, and drop a whole fish so freshly packed that it immediately leaked on to the folio beneath it.  
  
He probably enjoyed watching Gotou jerk back in his chair more than he should have. Somehow, the captain managed to keep any cursing well enough under his breath that Shingo could hardly tell anything escaped before, “Izumi-”  
  
“Huh?” He knows it’s more the way he tilts his head sharply than the word that makes the younger man freeze in his chair, but the effect quickly subsides when his expression melts into something much more softly amused. “Did I misunderstand? Weren’t you hungry?”  
  
Around them, the noises of an office trying to stay busy while surreptitiously glancing over their shoulders continues, and Gotou’s expression shifts to something far more baleful. “That was my current case file.”  
  
“Aren’t we lucky you create such reliable backups.”  
  
Another moment passes in silence before Gotou relaxes into his chair with a soft sigh. “You should be more careful.”  
  
Shingo slides a hand back into his pants pocket and offers a halfhearted shrug. “If I could stop it by now, I would have.”  
  
He doesn’t need to say what. The air around them fills more completely with the sounds of a busy office as it becomes clear they aren’t going to have any real confrontation, and the content of their conversation is forgotten in favor of the pictures that will probably circulate the department for another few weeks.  
  
“… Eight?” Shingo quietly prompts, after a moment of silence.  
  
“Nine,” Gotou corrects with a shake of his head, straightening in his seat.  
  
Nine, as it turns out, really means ten, and halfway through a second bottle of sake by the time Gotou extricates himself from reviews and paperwork he is slowly, painfully digitizing. It would have been earlier if his first report hadn’t smelled like fish and needed to be hand typed all over again, but there is only so much he can do about that, really.   
  
“You’re buying,” he flatly announces as he drops into the open seat and gestures to the bartender for another cup.   
  
“There is a cat on my floor now.” Shingo sits up just enough to pour some of his second bottle into the small disk like cup the bartender sits down between them.  
  
“A cat,” the flat echo.   
  
“For the mouse infestation.”   
  
Gotou tosses back the rest of his sake and sets the dish down between them to be refilled. The tension remaining in Shingo’s form no matter the empty bottle pushed off to one side of the bar is a little concerning. “You don’t like cats.” It’s not really a question, but he raises an eyebrow anyway.  
  
“Used to,” the older man offers with a shrug and half smile. “Still do, sometimes, when they aren't sneaking up on me.”  
  
“… Your department head brought in a cat to deal with the nonexistent mice and it’s stalking you.” He’s going to need more alcohol for this.   
  
Shingo exhales loudly and it’s almost a sigh as he pushes back from the bar for a stretch. “Ah, seems like.” He turns slightly, leaning on the bar rail so he can face Gotou more directly. “Have you eaten?” The silence that follows as Gotou attempts to think of the last time he ate that day is all the answer he really needs. “Didn’t think so - ah, don’t worry,” he adds while pushing over a small plate of appetizers.  
  
“… Domo.” Gotou doesn’t make a move towards the food for a long moment, slowly polishing off his second portion of sake first. “I’ll mention something in the morning-”  
  
“Don’t.”   
  
“You don’t need that kind of-“  
  
“It’s exactly what I need, though, isn’t it? A little challenge.” Shingo tips more sake into his companion’s drink with a weak smile. “It’s not as though it's going to stop.”  
  
“You don’t know that,” Gotou stubbornly retorts.  
  
“Well I don’t know it will either, so it seems best to plan for the worst, eh?” Shingo makes a short gesture towards the bartender and straightens up just enough to undo the last button of his blazer in the process. The soft haze of alcohol hasn’t completely drowned out the images in the back of his mind just yet, and the arrival of a third bottle brings some hope in that regard. Maybe he can reach darkness before sleep tonight and there won’t be flashes of memories he doesn’t have.  
  
“… I can find more mice.”   
  
When he doesn’t remember much more than that come Monday, Shingo counts it a victory. He doesn’t even mind the second mouse carcass to make it to his desk in twice as many days. At least this one seems to have arrived via deft paws and sharp teeth, and that should really be far less reassuring than it is. Does the cat actually like him now? He’s fairly certain he hasn’t been back to the office since he left on Friday and there are no odd looks tossed in his direction that would make him think otherwise.   
  
Fortunately, testing his theory won’t take that long, as the beast seems to have retired to the corner of his desk. Some unidentifiable emotion he can’t quite pin down forces him to caution, however, so instead of trying to pet it, he clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth. That causes an ear to lift, and the cat raises its head, not quite perking up at the sight of Shingo, but appearing to eye the rodent all the same.   
  
Well that's something at least. He can deal with uninterested. Laying a tissue covered hand on the mouse draws a long, low growl that makes him stop short with the mouse barely lifted by its tail. A single paw reaches forward, and Shingo quickly relinquishes his hold before any attempt is made on his hand. The claws barely miss him, digging into the mouse instead – most unnervingly without the cat ever looking away from him.  
  
Threat. That was a threat. He was being threatened by a cat at his own desk and the worst of it was the part of him that knew it without a doubt.   
  
He's less sure whether he should count tamping down the sudden need to dig his own talons - fingers! - into said cat in retaliation a success or a sign he should have taken more time off before returning to work.   
  
  
  



End file.
